Jonathan Wynne-Jones is the Religious Affairs and Media Correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph. He was described as "the scourge of church and state" at the Britsh Press Awards for 2009. He tweets @JonWynneJones.

One minute Gordon Brown is receiving a bashing from the head of the army, or former now, the next minutes it's the leader of the Church of England.

While I agree with the points that the archbishop has made, I had hoped that Rowan Williams might be able to pass up on the chance to score political points at today's memorial service for the 179 British personnel who died in Iraq. But I knew it was unlikely, as I suspect did most of the congregation in St Paul's cathedral, including Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.

I was told last week that senior figures in the army were concerned that the archbishop would use the service as an opportunity to have a pop at the war in Iraq. And they were proved right.

It may have been mild criticism, but it was criticism nevertheless and I can't help but think that a memorial service is not the time or the place. Do the parents of those who lost their lives fighting for their country really want to hear again that their children were lost to a war that was morally dubious to say the least?

The vast majority of his sermon was poignant and poetic, speaking powerfully of the sacrifice that the men and women have made in fighting for justice and peace. But why spoil this by repeating his well-known opposition to the war in Iraq. Do that in other sermons or comment pieces. And he has done it well.

But it's a shame on this occasion that he couldn't have followed the words of the reading from Ecclesiastes: "A time to keep silence, and a time to speak".